APPENDIX. 461 



Belfast, the distinguished naturalist, who assured Mr. Wm. Sinclaire that 

 the male bird bred with one of his tame ducks, adding, that the progeny 

 at once marked their descent. 



Muscovy Buck {Anas moschata), male, and Tame Duck, female, 

 have often at the Falls produced hybrids, which were considered excel- 

 lent for the table. A gentleman, long resident in Virginia, informs us 

 that such hybrids are bred to a considerable extent there, and in 

 other of the United States, for food. 



Pintail {A. ticuta), male, and Wild Duck, female. — Mr. R. Ball 

 remarks that " a hybrid, produced between the male pintail and wild 

 duck, in the gardens of the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland, is a 

 bird of much beauty. It is in its third or fourth year (18i6), and is 

 rather wild, seldom coming near to any person. This bird occasionally 

 disappears for months at a time, but where, or how it goes, is not 

 known, as it has never been seen to fly." 



TFild Duck {A. boschas), male, and Pintail, female. — Birds have been 

 so bred in the Zoological Gardens, Phccnix Park, Dublin. A male of 

 these hybrids has annually paired with a wild duck, but no produce 

 has been known. This hybrid flies much about, and while hundreds of 

 other ducks have been shot by persons in the neighbourhood, he has 

 hitherto, for a number of years, escaped (December 1850). 



Mr. Yarrell, in his 'British Birds,' has noticed a number of hybrid 

 Anatidce under the respective species, and Mr. Bartlett has given, in 

 the ' Annals of Nat. Hist.' (vol. xix. p. 424), a list of those known to 

 have been produced ; but the fullest information I have seen, is con- 

 tained in a memoir by Baron De Selys-Longehanips, specially on the 

 subject, towards which some of the preceding matter was contributed 

 by Mr. Ball and myself. There is no date of publication to the copy 

 of this memou' sent to me by the author, but it appeared subsequent to 

 the autumn of 1845, when the Baron visited Ireland. It is marked as 

 published in vol. xii. (No. 10) of the "Bulletins" of the Royal Aca- 

 demy of Brussels. 



With respect to the most important point connected with hybrids, 

 — viz., how far they are prolific among themselves, or in connexion 

 with genuine species, — I am in possession of very little original infor- 

 mation. This is an important subject in reference to the permanence 

 of species, and one to which sufficient attention has not hitherto been 

 properly directed. Contributions towards it, that I remember to 



